Archive for category Eric Hoskins

(Nothing to see here: Federal Health Minister mum on Ontario Closure of Community Care Access Centres)

The horror stories continue for the people of Ontario, with the federal government still very much on the sidelines. Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins announced today that the government will be closing all Community Care Access Centres (CCAC) in favor of cost cutting measures, and moving the home care services to Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN). These measures come on the heels of Ontario doctors filing a charter challenge on the cuts to the funding to their services, and reports that Ontario’s hospitals are now running over capacity. Ontario hasn’t seen such regressive policies since the Uncommon Sense Revolution of former Primer Mike Harris in the mid-90’s which saw many Ontario patients die unnecessarily while waiting for care as a result of cuts to essential health care services.

In recent months, money has been cut from educational services, autism therapies, special needs kids, and now a critical part of home care for the province will be lost. Money saved from these essential services is going to pay for green energy, free tuition, and keeping teachers unions at bay. With an aging population, shouldn’t more money be spent on health care? With a growing number of kids being diagnosed as special needs, shouldn’t more money be allocated to ensure they get their therapy? Where are the priorities of this Ontario Government? Free tuition, and filling union pocket books, seems to be a heavy price to pay with the cuts to essential services to help fund those priorities.